No More Mr Nice Guy
by rhythm-within
Summary: Maybe Maverick and Iceman like each other, but they just need a little push. (re-uploaded and edited) Maverick/Iceman.


Maverick liked most of the guys at Top Gun, though the majority of them didn't really make it onto his radar. Iceman, obviously, and Slider and Goose—they all mattered to him, despite any rivalry between them; it was all in good fun, though it seemed that sometimes Iceman didn't agree. So, the quiet guy the rest of the class nicknamed Alice who sat in the back of any given lecture and never answered any questions never really crossed Maverick's mind. That is, until he ran into him, smacked right into the poor guy, as he rounded a corner with a hastened stride.

"Sorry." Maverick apologized, holding out his hands as if to steady the smaller man.

"S'okay." Alice muttered, straightening his uniform and avoiding eye contact.

Maverick felt the urge to apologize again, get Alice to look up at him but Alice was already sliding around him, scampering off like a sheepish dog.

Maverick shook his head, striding down the hall again to meet up with Goose.

"Do you know that Alice guy?" He asked, not bothering to preface the question.

Goose looked thoughtful for a second, obviously going over the class roster mentally.

"The quiet guy, right?" Goose produced a guess.

"Yeah. That's the one." Maverick nodded, lips pursed in thought.

"Why?" Goose furrowed brows.

"I just ran into him in the hall. What's his story?"

"I don't even know. Seems like the only thing I've ever heard him talk about is his love for Alice Cooper and dogfights. I don't think he thinks about much else. Kind of a simple guy."

"Maybe we should take him out for drinks, loosen his tongue up a bit. Quiet guy, he's got to notice a lot. Maybe he's got dirt on other guys."

"Huh," Goose shrugged, "Maybe."

...

Maverick was surprised when Alice took the empty seat next to him in their next lecture; it was usually reserved for Slider or Ice. From Maverick's left, Goose leaned over to peer at the quiet man who was comfortably slouching in desk, right leg propped across his left knee. No one said a word and class started with no more inexplicable events.

...

_Why don't you say something to him? _Alice wrote on a sliver of notebook paper that he passed to Maverick while everyone else was engrossed in their briefing on their next dogfight. Maverick's eyes had been glossed over in an obvious daydream. The sudden rush of air below his chin caused him to start.

What? Maverick scrawled in sloppy hand on the reverse side, staring up at Viper and hoping he had not noticed their note passing.

_Ice_, the pilot sitting next to him wrote on another piece of paper, a smile cracking his lips.

_What?_ Maverick felt his stomach bottom out, hoping Alice wasn't getting at what he thought he was getting at.

_I see the way you look at him_, Alice wrote on the back of the same piece of paper and raised his eyebrows, obviously insinuating what Maverick didn't want him to be insinuating.

"_What?_" Maverick croaked outloud, causing the entire class—including Iceman, Maverick knew from the feeling on the back of his neck—to look at him and for Viper to stop speaking to look incredulously at Maverick.

"Is there something more important going on over there? Maverick? Goose?"

"It wasn't me, this time!" Goose protested, having been no part of the ordeal though he certainly had been watching Maverick and Alice act like schoolgirls with their handwritten notes.

Viper shot them a look that indicated that he didn't give a _shit_ who it had been so long as everyone shut their damn traps.

"Yes, sir." Goose said. Viper's eyes moved back to Maverick.

"Yes, sir." Maverick said and slid down in his seat just slightly, his face flushing from embarrassment at the sound of Iceman's snickers that were cutting through all the rest.

_Your lover boy thinks he's holier than thou_, Alice snickered as he slid one more piece of paper at Maverick, leaning back and crossing his arms over his thick chest.

_Shut up, Cooper_, Maverick scrawled back, deciding not to answer any more notes and the name on the page made Alice's smirk grow wider.

...

Maverick thought he really ought to kick the shit out of Alice, but before Maverick could even find the man he had already changed his clothes in a bathroom stall and high-tailed it out of the locker room.

"What do you think is up with that shit-kicker?" Maverick asked Goose as he was stuffing his uniform back into his locker.

"Don't you think shit-kicker is a bit harsh, Mav? He just embarrassed you in front of a bunch of dudes you embarrass yourself in front of on the regular." Goose looked towards the door where Alice had long departed from and slammed his locker shut.

Maverick shrugged. "Fair enough."

"I expected more of a fight from you on this. What'd he even say to you?" Goose asked, an eyebrow raised in askance.

Maverick shoved Goose's shoulder. "Let's just go, man."

"Right." Goose understood the finality in Maverick's voice and followed his partner out of the locker room, keeping his mouth shut on the subject. For now.

...

Despite it being a Thursday night, all of the pilot's were out. It had just been one of _those_ days. The dogfighting hadn't be as rigorous and the sky had been gray, heavy with rain all of them—including Maverick, Goose, and Iceman's whole crew—were all in the same place, the only place any of the Top Gun boys ever went. And, for the first time since he'd been going there, Maverick noticed Alice sitting by himself in a corner booth nursing a dark bottle.

Fleetingly, he wondered if Alice was always there and Maverick had just never noticed or if it was the first time Alice had shown up. He decided it didn't really matter; the main thing was that the man was there and Maverick had a few bones to pick with him.

He left Goose's conversation with another RIO, making up a half-assed excuse, and headed straight for the outcast pilot.

"Hey, Faggot!" Maverick called at Alice as he walked up. Alice's eyes widened comically as he stared up at Maverick's approaching bulk. "Who do you think you are, accusing people like you did?"

Once Alice focused on Maverick's face, his face grew lax and a lazy smile spread on his face.

"Is it really an accusation if it's true?" He slurred. Maverick thought he heard the other man's voice break a little at the end.

"What do mean _'true'?_" Maverick leaned closer, like he was about to spit in Alice's face.

"You know you spend all your time thinking about how you want Iceman to ride your dick all night, every night." Alice pointed a shaky finger at Maverick, not quite in Maverick's direction.

"How drunk are you?" Maverick asked, moving away from Alice now.

"Very. I'm very drunk."

"I can tell." Maverick sank onto the vinyl seat opposite Alice.

"I get chatty when I'm drunk. Did you know that? Did you know I love women?" Alice's decibel was rising and Maverick's eyes were sliding around the room, checking to make sure Alice wasn't creating a scene. Ice was watching Maverick out of the corner of his eye but it didn't seem to be because of Alice's loud voice.

"That's nice, buddy. You might want to keep it down."

"No! I have to say it! I love women! I'm a lesbian who loves women!" At this point, Alice leaped drunkenly from the booth—knocking over his beer in the process—and was flailing his arms above his head.

"Me too, buddy!" Another man called from a few booths away and Maverick felt the urge to get Alice to shut up.

"Hey!" Maverick shouted at him, going for his arms. "Hey, you need to calm down. I think you've had enough for tonight." As he moved forward, he slipped on Alice's spilled beer. He fell backwards onto his ass.

"You little…" Maverick tried to curse at Alice but he was laughing too hard to really take anything to heart.

"Let's get out of here," Alice said between laughs, offering a hand to Maverick who was lying all the way back on the sticky floor looking up at Alice's triumphantly amused face. "Come on."

Without thinking about it, Maverick took the slender hand and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet.

"You're pretty strong." He commented, as if he was surprised, once he was securely standing again and they were both heading toward the door.

"You're pretty short." Alice retorted.

"Touché." Maverick chuckled as he swung his jacket back on and then they were both outside. They looked at each other for a minute, trying to decide if they should keep walking together. Alice went to take a step off the curb and almost fell onto the pavement.

"You really are pissed, aren't you?" Maverick asked, laughing to himself.

"A lot drunker than I look." Alice, trying to balance himself back on the concrete sidewalk.

"That's funny, 'cause you look drunk." He smiled at Alice and Alice elbowed him in the ribs. "Maybe I ought to make sure you get home."

"I can _easily_ call a cab." Alice slurred.

"Do you have change for a payphone?" Maverick asked, looking at the state of Alice.

"No, but—" Maverick interrupted her.

"Then do you have a phone?" Maverick was joking but Alice took him seriously in his drunken state. He patted himself like he was searching for a mobile phone he wasn't going to find.

"No, but—" he tried again but Maverick cut him off again.

"Do I have a phone that I am so _graciously_ going to lend you?"

"No, but…" Alice trailed off and they kept walking, Maverick leading the way and Alice following, half stumbling.

"Where are we going?" Alice asked after a while of traveling in comfortable silence.

"My place." Maverick answered, feeling a little nebulous as he took in the cold bay air and the faint traces of the Milky Way that wasn't blotted out by the city lights.

"Any reason?"

"I kind of feel like you're in my charge now. Plus, I don't trust you to get to your own place by yourself in the state you're in."

"Why do you think you're better than me, Mav?" The question was offhanded and Maverick was a bit thrown off by hearing his nick name come for the other man after he had barely spoken more than two words to him before their very brief chat at the bar.

"First of all, I'm far less drunk than you—"

"You were there almost as long as I was." Alice pointed out.

"I only had half a beer though." Maverick hugged his jacket close to his chest.

"Why'd you drink so little?" Maverick had no intention of admitting to Alice that he had not really drinken anything because he was watching Iceman chat and laugh with his friends.

"I was…_distracted_."

"You weren't distracted enough to gloss over my existence. You were looking for me, weren't you? I got under your skin, earlier, huh?" Alice sounded a bit apologetic.

Maverick had to admit that he enjoyed Alice's company. Somehow, the other man was a rather comforting presence, silently striding next to him and almost tripping every now and then. Alice cocked an eyebrow at Maverick that said "You know you want to bone Iceman _so hard._"

"Asshole." Maverick shoved Alice playfully, but he was so drunk he almost stumbled into the road again. Fortunately, the roads were pretty empty at night.

The rest of the walk was fairly quiet but by the end of it—once they'd finally reached Maverick's house—Maverick felt confident enough to say that he actually _liked_ Alice. He'd had even had a chance to live up to his call sign. Something they had been talking about had reminded him of this one time he went to see Alice Cooper when he was younger and Alice Cooper did some crazy stunt involving hanging himself. Maverick wondered why he'd never bothered to listen to that guy before; he seemed like a pretty interesting musician, indeed.

"You sleep here." Maverick pointed Alice to the couch and got an extra pillow from the hall closet. "Behave." He winked and went to his own room for the night.

...

"Maverick, we're both relatively short. Do you happen to have a spare uniform? I spilled something on mine last night. Didn't notice til just now." Alice asked, coming into the kitchen where Maverick was making coffee and eggs.

"Sure. Watch the eggs for a second," Maverick said, turning around and heading back into his room to look for a uniform. He returned and handed the spare garment to Alice before he headed to the bathroom to pee.

Alice was half dressed when Maverick passed back through the living room. And that wouldn't have been a problem if Alice hadn't _shrieked_ and brought his arms up to cover his chest, or rather _her_ arms to cover _her_ chest. The loud sound startled Maverick so much that he jumped back and hit a wall.

"Alice, why are you covering your chest?" His eyes were wide but he seemed to be calming down quickly enough.

"So you don't see that I'm hiding _my boobs?_" Alice squeaked.

"Why do you _have_ boobs?" Maverick insisted, completely forgetting about the eggs in the kitchen.

"Because I'm a woman." She admitted, looking upset and pleading.

"How the hell did you get into Top Gun?" He walked over to her.

"Um…" She spluttered.

Maverick looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. "Spill." He commanded.

"What do you _think_?" She said, arms gesticulating wildly as she unfroze from her momentary terror.

"Cover yourself up first, please." Maverick averted his eyes though it wasn't necessary; Alice had them wrapped up tightly so she could wear men's clothing. He went into the kitchen to see Alice had already split the eggs onto two plates for them and poured them both coffee.

Embarrassed, Alice quickly finished putting on the uniform she was borrowing from Maverick and shuffled into the kitchen where Maverick was adding sugar to his coffe.

"I have some higher up connection. Had some papers edited and all. I wanted to get into Top Gun, and I knew I could. But I'm a girl and they don't let girls be _'the best of the best_.'" She let her voice get low, obviously mocking Top Gun's slogan. "Is that a good enough explanation?"

"I guess it's not really my business but you are going to be in so much shit if someone other than me finds out." Maverick smiled at her and Alice beamed up at him.

"You mean you won't say anything?" Her voice was so hopeful.

"What's your real name?" Maverick asked, having already indicated he wouldn't say anything.

"What's it to you?" She smirked.

"Just curious." He forked some egg into his mouth.

"It's Margret." She conceded told him, dumping sugar into her own steaming coffee.

"Margret. That's a nice name. You're not just here for guys, right?"

"Guys can suck my dick. I'm here 'cause I want to fly with 'the best of the best.'" Her voice did the low mocking thing again. "Because I know I can."

"You really like girls, huh, Margret?"

"Don't make me regret telling you my name. I only did 'cause I kinda like you. Just call me Alice before you make a habit of calling me _Margret_."

"All right, _Alice_. So, you don't like guys _at all_?"

"Nope, I don't." She winked at him.

It was funny because she had a buzzed hair cut and Maverick kept having to remind himself that she was, in fact, a girl. Though, the more he looked, the more he told himself he could see it in her cheek bones.

"Damn. You've got some serious balls." He commended.

"Hey. Don't act like it's that weird. You like men, you little queer-o."

"Don't call me a queer-o. And you have no proof I like men." He pointed an accusatory finger at her.

She laughed. "The fact that you didn't deny it to me speaks for itself. That and the fact that you want to pound Iceman into a mattress for hours on end."

"Fuck," Maverick ran a hand through his short hair and rubbed his tired eyes. "I have to get dressed." He said, off-handedly, using the excuse to get away from the lesbian who had been a man ten minutes prior to the boob-encounter. He wished it were Saturday but it wasn't and he had to be back at the school in less than half an hour.

"Come on. We gotta get going." He dumped his empty plate in the sink and went off to put on his own uniform.

...

At the end of the day, after all the flying was done and it was time to hang up uniforms and take long hot showers, Alice was always the first person into the locker room and the first person to leave. She never showered, just changed and put up her gear before going home.

It took Iceman three days—after he saw Alice and Maverick leaving after a _brief_ incident in the bar, and not counting the days of the weekend—to make sure it was a pattern and conclude it was habit for Alice; he'd never paid attention to her before the incident at the bar.

Iceman followed Alice down the hall, out the door, and into the parking lot. She was fiddling with her car keys when Iceman confronted Alice.

"What do you mean by trying to seduce a fellow pilot? Don't you know that can get you into a lot of trouble?"

Alice was frightened by the feral look she saw in Ice's eyes. She put up her hands and tried to defend herself. "It's not what you think. Me and Mav are just friends."

Ice looked like he was going to hit her but he just pointed a finger menacingly in her face. "You'd better watch out, _Alice_." He threatened and then stalked off.

Alice breathed out in relief. But of course Iceman wouldn't hit her. He wasn't awful.

...

"I think your boyfriend's jealous." Alice whispered to Maverick as they were coming off the tarmac.

"Jealous of what? Maverick seemed startled.

"Me going home with you. I think _he_ thinks we slept together. The only thing he said was 'What do you mean seducing another pilot? Dontcha know that'll get ya into trouble?' and then told me to watch out."

"That's kind of messed up." Maverick felt his stomach sink.

"Yeah, I don't know what to think now." She punched him playfully, but still pretty hard for a girl, on the shoulder and moved ahead of him into the locker room so she could ditch her stuff and head home before anyone.

"Mav, why have you been hanging around that Alice guy so much lately?" Goose confronted him as he watched Alice scamper off.

"I don't know. I kinda like him. He's not that bad. A little eccentric." Maverick stuck up for her, feeling protective.

"I don't know, Mav. There's somethin' kinda off about him. Seems kinda…_flirty_…with you."

"Oh god no, Goose. It's nothing like that!" Maverick felt himself flush a little.

"Well, just watch your back. _Literally_." Goose made it into a joke.

"Yeah, Goose." Maverick chuckled, not really finding it funny.

"Beers tonight?"

"I'm gonna have to take a rain check, Goose. I have some unfinished business."

"Okay, man. Whatever you say." Goose shrugged and they both went off to shower.

...

That night, Iceman and Maverick were the last people to leave the locker rooms: Iceman because he thought everyone would leave and he could be alone a while, let off some steam, and Maverick because he needed to _talk_ to Iceman.

"Why'd you threaten Alice?" Maverick asked, puffing up his chest, trying to seem intimidating to the much taller man.

"Someone threatened Alice?" Iceman acted like he was shocked.

"Don't act stupid, Ice. What you did."

Iceman sighed. "You're right. That was out of line. I just didn't want either of you to get in trouble. If you want to e in a relationship, I guess that's okay with me."

"I'm not in a relationship with Alice. We're friends."

"Okay." Iceman leaned forward, towering over Maverick and searching Maverick's eyes for any hint of untruth. Maverick felt himself shying away from the intensity, taking a step back, right into a locker.

This close, Maverick noticed a few things. Iceman's beautiful dark eyes were dialated, focused on nothing but Maverick's face. The sudden attention made Maverick's face flush and his breath shorten. Iceman's breath was also coming out in short pants, ghosting over Maverick's cheekbones. There was silence between them, an ominous, telling silence. By the energy radiating from Iceman, Maverick knew he had a choice. He could stay, fight, take a hit like a man or he could run off and be a coward.

Maverick wasn't entirely sure, but there may have been some sort of growl right before Iceman grabbed Maverick's face and forced his lips open with his own. It wasn't what Maverick had been expecting but it wasn't unwelcome. In fact, it was _more_than welcome. It was encouraged.

Alice ducked back behind a set of lockers, covering her mouth with both her hands. If she had let her laughter be as loud as it was trying to be, she certainly would have been caugh being a voyuer. Once she had calmed her hysterics, she smiled to herself; it was nice when things worked out for the people she cared about.


End file.
